I rarely met someone who so instantly wished me dead. In fact, I only expected such a reaction from a fellow Knight Mage. I opened my Sight to watch her leave, and once again spied no trace of magic upon her.
“You’ll find Miss Simpson a very…difficult person at times,” Jones said after she left. “I hope you won’t think badly of her. The leader of our Order harbors high hopes for her.”
“The thought never crossed my mind.” I said. “What can you tell me of Samuel Mathers?”
“A brilliant man, Lord Mathers.” A beatific look settled on his face. Lord, he called the man. Curious. “But you’ll discover that for yourself soon enough.”
We fell into companionable conversation after that. I tried to coax more information about Mathers from him, but blood came easier from a stone. He did let slip one important piece of information though; Mathers owned a townhouse on Park Street. Still, I rather enjoyed Jones’s company and we talked while the fire burned to embers. Eventually there came a lull in our conversation and I stood, much to the displeasure of my feline friend who’d settled onto my lap at some point.
“Well sir, it grows late, and affairs require my attention at first light.” I extended my hand toward him. “I enjoyed your company immensely.”
“And I, yours, my friend.” Jones stood, took my hand, and stepped close. “I shouldn’t grant this information to an initiate, but as I fancy you’ve already deciphered the missive, I see no harm. The judgment and induction ritual will happen at eight tomorrow evening. With how late we reached out to you, we never expected your presence at the ritual, but you will impress the Order if you attend.”
My smile widened, and I patted his shoulder. Of course, his letter sat in a drawer in my desk, forgotten and undeciphered. “I’d be delighted to come, sir.”
He beamed at me and threw an arm around my shoulders as we made our way to the door. Outside, we said our goodbyes, and when he turned to leave, I reached up and plucked a few hairs from his head. I needed some way to find the ritual, after all. And this time I knew I had the right hair. I pulled a vial from a pocket and tucked the hairs inside.
Now to pay Mr. Mathers a visit.
6
A Little Breaking and Entering
Aleister, stop. Someone approaches.
I froze, my hand on the knob of Mathers’s front door. As a pair of constables rounded the corner, I checked my obfuscating spell and found it still active. Obfuscation remains the closest thing to true invisibility. It warps the senses of those around the caster, drawing their attention away. These two seemed to expect no trouble as they walked their beat, but I still didn’t dare move, lest I break the spell. I didn’t wish to break into Mathers’s house in the presence of the constabulary.
The constables passed without a second glance. I breathed a sigh of relief when they finally slipped out of sight.
Too close, Vex admonished.
I waved him off and turned back toward Mathers’s front door, a gaudy, crimson thing I didn’t much care for. Mathers’s abode stood on Park Street, one of the few places in the city outside the reach of the factories’ smokestacks. Prime real estate. I owned an incredibly lush flat on Chancery now, but the residences here near Hyde Park made my flat seem a hovel. Mathers did very well for himself to afford to live here.
I opened my Sight and found no magical protections on the door. Curious.
With caution, I wrapped a hand around the handle and felt the keyhole above with a thumb. The metal felt rough and jagged against my skin. Odd. I probed the tumblers with my will and found fresh scores and scrapes. Someone had fiddled with this lock recently.
I pushed my will further until a tiny click sounded. With a turn of the handle, the door swung open, silent on well-oiled hinges. I slipped inside, closing the door and locking it behind me. Kindling will, I whispered into the darkness, “Exsicca.” A cloud of steam erupted around me as the snow evaporated from my clothes.
Dry now, I opened my Sight, and the light of the otherworld dispelled the darkness around me. A hall stretched before me, bare save for a little table with a vase of flowers upon it. Odd, this late into winter. I gazed up the switchback stairs leading to the higher floors. I didn’t know Mathers’s routine, but I hoped he lay asleep upstairs. I listened, straining for a sign of anyone awake in the house. I heard nothing.
What do we search for? Vex asked as I moved down the hall.
Something to reveal Mathers’s intentions for the Golden Dawn. I ran my hand across the wall as I went, searching for a recess or grooves. Or perhaps give us insight into the status of Mathers’s blood.
I let my will flow around me, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Halfway down the hall, I felt something odd in the wall. I ran a hand across it, probing with my magic, and found a door. Curious. I felt around, searching for a handle or switch to open the hidden passage. A few moments later, I found a panel flush with the wall. It slid inward with a click when I pressed, and the seam of a door appeared.
“Clever,” I whispered as I crept into the room beyond, pulling the door closed behind me.
I expected to find an office, or maybe a ritual space inside. I certainly didn’t expect to find an entire two-story library secreted within the walls. Shelves lined both stories, and a narrow balcony circled the second floor. Books filled the shelves, all meticulously categorized. I took one from a nearby shelf with a German title and opened it. I didn’t speak the language but judging from the diagrams, the book contained occult knowledge. No
